With Silicon Valley and Middle East investors on board the only way is up for India’s Reliance – The National

With Silicon Valley and Middle East investors on board the only way is up for India’s Reliance – The National

Reliance has successfully transformed its telecom company Jio to tap into India's growing digital needs





























A general view of Reliance Digital billboard near Mumbai. Reliance Industries has seen its share price soar as the company secured strategic investors in Jio Platforms, the digital to mobile part of Reliance. EPA











Reliance Industries, the giant Indian conglomerate controlled by Asia's richest man Mukesh Ambani, has gone from strength-to strength during the coronavirus pandemic, despite the country's battered economy.



The company attracted more than $20 billion (Dh73.4bn) from foreign investors - including Facebook and Google - into its digital unit and became debt-free. Reliance, which is India's largest company, is the country's first company to exceed market capitalisation of $150bn. Reliance's diversification from oil to telecoms and data in recent years, has underpinned its growth trajectory and led to it overtaking Exxon as the world's second largest energy company. That catapulted Mr Ambani up in the ranks of the Forbes rich list overtaking Warren Buffet with a net worth of just over $70bn.









They were ahead of the curve in understanding that there